Pastor's Note, November 11, 2018

what they could do to help me personally in what is a very busy time as parish activities increase and project deadlines loom in rapid succession between now and late July for me. First and foremost, I need your prayers. My own experience is that God in His inscrutable providence often waits to give us what we need until we ask Him for it with sufficient intensity.

Something else that I need is patience. It will take me at least a year to know what I do not know about these two parishes. There will be some things that I discover that will demand immediate action. Most can wait. This year is a time of discernmant, not a time to start new programs or devote a great deal of energy toward maintaining languishing ones.

These things having been said, there are some concrete ways that I need your help that I can enumerate here:

Volunteer sacristans at both parishes. Sacristans set up and clean up the sanctuary before and after Mass. We already have a small group of people who have received training for this ministry that can pass on what they have learned. Contact either parish office to volunteer.

More generous giving. From 2000 to 2017, overall Mass attendance in Grant County has decreased by 45%. With fewer people coming to Mass and a smaller general population from which to draw, those who come to Mass have to give more in order for our parishes not to operate in the red. Operational deficits have been a fact of life for Saint Paul for more than a year. If current giving trends continue, Holy Family will share the same fate.

Other volunteering. Holy Family still needs volunteers to open and close the church. The rectory at Saint Paul needs some light renovation work that will involve liquidating or moving the gift shop, making the kitchen functional again and moving files so as to eventually be able to accommodate another office.